Thermostatic valve



WHQBUR BIRTGH, OE LAPURTE, INDIANE, .iltfiSIGlhl'QE't il'fi EAtlTlMthWHIQEtE-EY 301,-

EAN'SF, (3F MQRTE, INDIANA, A GOREQ'EMNXFK EQIN OF INDIANA.

TFEIERlPvifUSTATIC VALVE.

Application filed @l'ovemher 5%, ltt l. fierlel Silo. 5%,!88.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, FRED VVILBUR Bm'rorr,

a citizen of the United States, residing at .Laporte, in the county of Laporte and State 5 of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thermostatic Valves, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to thermostatic 10 valves for governing the flow or fluid under pressure. In supplying gas to the burner of an automatic water-heater, the cut-d valve in the gas-supply line is thermostati cally controlled, the thermostat element entering the warm-water chamber, and the control heing effected to open the gas supply valve when the temperature of the water drops below a given point and to close the valve again when the temperature has risen to a predetermined point under the heat supplied from the burner.

The general object of my invention is to provide unimproved valve of this character that will be simple and economical in construction, durable, efficient and not liable t get out of order.

With a view to attaining these and other objects my invention consists in the features of construction and arrangement oi. parts hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein l have shown a single 0pera-tive emhodiment of my invention for purposes of full disclosure.

in the drawingyhig. l is a side elevation with parts broken away showing my valve structure; Fig. 2 is a section showing the parts in'their different relations; Fig. 3 is a erspective detail of a lever element; Fig. l is a front elevation of the valve casing; Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line5-5 of Fig. 1; lhig. 6 is a plan view of the operating levers; Fig. 'l' is a perspective detail of one lever, and 8 is a perspective detail of a connecting linlr.

The valve casing 10 has the gas inlet duct 11 leading to inlet chamher 12 vertically aligning with and above the gas outlet passage 13, the inlet and outlet being separated by a partition wall 14; having a gasllow port 15 made therethrough, there lacing below this wall a horizontally extending mechanism-chamber 16 to receive the multiplying levers of the thermostatic mechanism. lhe front end of the chamber is closed by a re- I an rnovahle screw stud lf snd the front wall 18 therehelow, preferably arranged at an ohlique angle. to the vertical, referably has a dial formation-as indicate at 19, provided with graduations 26 over which swings a pointer handle 21' secured to an adjustable fulcrum-pin 22, the screw-stern of which is threaded through the front wall of the easing so that by adjustment of handle 21 the position of its fulcrum point 28 may he changed.

ln rear of the chamber 16 the casting ai fords a base-wall 24 with suitahle'provision, as the screw-threaded hoss 25, for ztttachment to a hot water heater, and in this hoes i is anchored the expansion tube 26 of a thermostetic element the center rod 2? of which, suitably secured as at 28 to the outer end of the tube, extends through and is guided by an opening 29 in said rear wall 24.

'Within chamber 16 the lever mechanism for multiplying motion is mounted, the specific construction shown (but which be widely varied in detail) providing a main hell-crank lever 30 pivoted on an arhor 31 that finds fixed hearing in studs 32 pro jecting inwardly from the sides of the chamber 16, and this being the only fired pivot. At or above its pivotal axis main lever 30 has forwardly projecting arms that at their forward extremities carry, preferably on raised ears 32, the pivot pin 33 for terminal lever 34-, the forwardly projecting tail of which is pivoted as at 35 to the forked top of a link 36 the solid'hottom of which is pivoted as at 37 to the forked forwardly extending arm 38 ot a hell-crank lever 39, this lever being pivoted at its angle on pin 40 carried by the downwardly extending arm 2-1 of the hell-cranlr lever 30. The downwardly extending arm 42 of hell crank lever 39 is arranged to abut, below its axis, a 'ainst the adjustable fulcrum pin 22, and the downwardly extending arm 41 of hell crank lever 30 has a'rearwardly projecting nose 43, between the lined pivot 31 and the movahle pivot 40, which nose shuts against and re ceives motion from the inner'extremity oil thermostat rod 2?. Resultantly, inwardly directed pressure of rod 27 not only elevates pivot pin 33 by reason of its pressure on the lever nose l3, hut swings pivot pin 40 to the left (Fig. 2) causing lever 39 to tilt on fulcrum point- 23 and, through link 36, to pull downwardly on pivotal connection 35, so

plate e6 but normally (Fig. 1) noncontacting with the ball '18.

lin operat1o1i, since the water affecting the thermostat is normally hot enough to maintain the tube 26 expanded, the parts stand as indicated in Fig. l, the gas pres sure upon the hall 428, which is preferablysteehcoacting 'e'ith gravity to maintain hall firmly seated on the hard, sharpedged seat 4.9. Under such conditions the spring l7 is under no tension or very weak tension, insulficient to raise the ball. When water temperature drops and thermostat tube 26 shrinks, moving the end of the stem 24 inwardly the vastly multiplied motion resultin at the active and of the terminal raises the plate 46 and spring 47, building u) spring pressure suiiiciently to ,u some t e resistance of the ball and forcit slightly from its scat. As soon as the topening of the valve relieves the pressiue thereon the valve is spring-impelled to 'fully open position, although should the be broken or fail to work as de- Ifi? scribed, center in wilhat a little later F--l'lOl positive y raise the valve from its In closing, as the tube 26 expands in, the ball rides down on the weaklytensioned, expanded spring until it is so to the valve seat 49 that pressure up on the ball, whereupon it snaps against minimum spring-resistance. snap action insures that the valve will vvorlr. from fully open to fully closed position Wli;

u a rapid action, so giving the gas assures burner a full head of gas or none at all, as is desirable for best and most economical operation of gas-fuel Water heaters. It will be observed that the spherical valve not only cooperates accurately with the hardened seat in any position of rotation, but at all times rides easily on the top of the spring and, in closing, tends to clear the seatedge of any foreign matter that may lodge thereon, and this without sticking. Furthermore, it will be noted that the stated arrangement admits of most economical and advantageous manufacture and the provision of the simplest form of removable or replaceable seat'as a mere narrow ring that can be. expense and perfectly trued at. minimum with simple machinery.

I claim;

A thermostatic valve of the character described, comprising a casing having an upper inlet chamber with an orifice in its bottom, a sharp-ed ed seat-ring bordering the top of said ori ce, a mechanism chamber below said orifice and having an outlet, a thermostatic device ,entering said mechanism chamber, multiplying levermeans within said mechanism chamber including a terminal lever arranged below the orifice to the inlet chamber, a spherical valve adapted to co-act with the sharp edge of said seat-ring to closed said orifice, said valve being arranged within the inlet chamber above said seat, a stem carried by said terminal lever and extending. into said orifice to lift said valve as said terminal lever is considerably raised, and a coiled spring surrounding said stem and inter posed between said terminal lever and said valve and extending through said orifice, said spring when expanded, being longer than said s emI and normally tensioned to liflt said valve beforesaid stem strikes said va ve.

' ram) WILBUR smron. 

